So yeah . . .my first attempt at blogging didn’t go so well. It did get me over a roadblock in my quilting though, I actually finish quilts now! I have finished (top, quilting, binding and all) four quilts in the past year. Not exactly one a month like I had hoped, but a significant improvement over never finishing anything. And of course I have several quilts in various stages, one just needs the binding sewn down and another is in the machine being quilted. I really should make a list of all works in progress – it’s getting a little ridiculous.

I think when I started this blog I felt like I was one more voice online and I didn’t have much to contribute, I don’t feel that way anymore. I like being creative and love designing modern quilts. I am continually inspired by the work of bloggers, I hope that something I make will be an inspiration to someone too.

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My January Accomplishments

One quilt backed, basted, quilted and bound

24 blocks for Oh Fransson‘s Paintbox QuiltAlong

Coupon Organizer adapted from Moda Bakeshop

Not bad. Not bad at all.

I am unable to not not start new projects. Sure, I need to work on basting my January quilt-of-the-month (the backing is pieced at least), but I just love the inspiration quilt for Oh Fransson’s Paintbox Quiltalong.

Isn’t that just the funnest quilt you have ever set your eyes upon?

Nevermind the fact that my quilt won’t look like that in the least – I want to make one anyway!

Why won’t my quilt look like that? Well, I made a silly promise to my husband that I wouldn’t buy fabric for SIX  MONTHS! Apparently he finds it a little ridiculous to continually buy more fabric than you use. (One caveat to this is that I can buy material needed to finish projects already in the works – NOT for new projects) I don’t think that he believes I will hold out that long, so I’m trying to prove a point here. I’m not addicted to buying pretty fabric, I just really really like it. So, as much as I would like to buy many bright colors of solids and wonderful prints to make a similar version of the paintbox quilt, I, alas, will not. I am joining this quilt-along working entirely from my stash. I’ll be making the “classic” variation of the blocks, using Kona Bone color as my solid (because that is what I have in my stash). The pace for the quilt-along is 4 sets of blocks a week. Week one:

I think I’m going to really like the scrappy nature of the quilt – 40 different prints – and it gives me a chance to use some old fabrics in my stash that I’m not crazy about, with such a limited amount of a fabric in the quilt it’s more about color and value than design of the individual fabrics. Well, I’d love to have both really, but you can still make a good-looking quilt without high priced fabric.

I’ve decided to start the year with an easy, attainable goal. It would not be good for me to fail so early on in my challenge, I’m prone to saying screw it with self-set goals and deadlines. So I’m going to take a completed quilt top and finally make it into a quilt. I made this top about a year and a half ago, I bought some cheapo fabric and sewed the thing in less than a week. I just wanted to sew something. And now I have a top that I don’t particularly care for and have no use for. So . . . it’s a practice quilt! Frankly I’m glad that I have something that I didn’t invest very much time or money into for my second machine-quilted quilt. I’m still not confident in my abilities. Sure, I can make a product that looks fine if you don’t inspect it very closely, but that’s not a level of quality that I like to achieve.

So I hope to do a little experimenting with this – maybe do some patterns with the quilting, maybe try some curves with the walking foot. I have no idea what the back will look like yet – there is enough leftover fabric, but I’m not certain how to combine the pieces into something pleasant-looking without too many seams. We’ll see – if nothing else I will learn something, and that is the whole point. Maybe someday I”ll even learn how to take photos of quilts =)

I’m posing a challenge to myself for 2010 : Complete a quilt a month.

It takes me a while to finish things that I start. I get distracted…

For example, I just wrote that five minutes ago and then my husband came along and I forgot what I was doing. He was highly amused that those were the last words on the screen.

Anyway here’s some parameters:

• It doesn’t have to be a new project, in fact, finishing all of my current Works In Progress would be an excellent start
• Quilt can be any size as long as it is quilted and bound
• All quilts have to be quilted AND bound by the end of the month in question

I don’t see any logistical reason why I can’t accomplish this in 2010 – I have plenty of time, and, as we all know, that is the hardest element to come by in an obsessive hobby. And I already have plenty of materials (gee, I wonder how that happened . . .)

I think I will try to post what I am working on at the beginning of the month and then do a progress check in the middle of the month – that way I will get a wake up call if I’m nowhere near my goal. It’s all about keeping me focused so I can actually finish things. Who knows? Maybe it will become a habit!?

I had excellent intentions for this tree skirt. I fell in love with the fabric line Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey for Moda the first time I saw it. I convinced myself that I loved it enough to pay (gasp) full price for it. I ordered two charm packs and some yardage online. And then it sat for several weeks because I couldn’t commit to any design that would be worthy of such expensive fabric. The frugal side of me and the perfectionist side of me were co-conspirators binding me into a state of paralysis! Eventually I won the fight, but I had another setback after I completed the main design of the skirt – it wasn’t big enough for our tree. So it sat under the tree, unfinished, for another week or two. And . . . it’s still unfinished.  BUT, the top is now completed, at the proper size. I actually like the border a lot, more than the skirt without it, so I’m glad I had to change my plans.

I don’t think I’m ready for full price designer fabric. It is really nice to have everything coordinate all in the same line, but it’s too much much pressure for me. I’ll stick to JoAnns and clearance designer fabric for now. Luckily my local quilt shop has a great clearance section =)

My husband and I are not big on gift giving- to be more precise we are not big on mandatory gift giving occasions. Personally I love random gifts, the kind which you can’t not buy because it is just so perfect for someone. This is our first Christmas together and we decided to set a total budget and then we get to choose what we want for Christmas. The idea was to put everything under the tree and all, but I got ahead of myself and got a bunch of really great Black Friday deals online . . .and you can’t just leave boxes unopened . . .

three movies, nine TV seasons, two cookbooks, one jelly roll and a charm pack.

What do you think – wrap them and put them under the tree? Choose a few to keep out? Ignore Christmas tradition and delayed gratification entirely?

snow

Originally uploaded by sewcurious

First of the season. I know it’s pretty and all but it’s hard to get past all of the cold, bleak weather to come that this snowfall represents.

I’ll try to look at it as an excuse to drink tea and make lots of yummy soup.

I often get discouraged when I sew because I choose massive projects that take forever to complete and it feels like I never get anything done. So I’m trying to make small things once in a while – it’s nice to be able to start and finish a project all in the same day.

This is a purse that I made last week. It’s called the Phoebe Bag by Rebeka Lambert. It was a little more challenging than I thought it would be, but I think that’s mostly because I’m out of practice sewing anything but straight lines. I’m kind of surprised how much I like it. The fabric is Fresh Cut by Heather Bailey and I think that fabric choice makes all of the difference in home sewn purses. I believe this will be the first of many.

For years I have been a quilter -hoarding fabric, books and patterns, occasionally even finishing a quilt top – but this is the first ever quilt that I have actually completed. It was cut, pieced, backed, basted, machine quilted and bound by me! I have about five flimsy tops done through the years that need to be turned into completed quilts, and now I’m past all the intimidation of machine quilting and can finally get them done. (of course probably not before starting a million new projects)

This quilt was basically made as a practice quilt. The fabric is all homespuns that I had bought and cut years ago for some project – in all honesty they weren’t cut well, plaids take a lot of patience to cut which at the time I didn’t have. I just started sewing squares together because I wanted to sew something and this is what it turned out as.

This is the first time I’ve used the walking foot that I got for my machine – it’s fairly obvious that I’m a beginner. It went well enough and I learned so much that I’m confident that I can do a decent job on the next one. It’s hard for me to accept imperfections in projects – that’s one thing this blog is for. All of my finished projects are going on here – perfect or not!